Syfy channel is launching Defiance, a new original series,in April with an mmo tie-in. Surprisingly, both look pretty good so far. Trion studios is developing the game and the show is produced by those responsible for the shows Caprica and Farscape, so the pedigree is pretty high on both fronts. It also has a combined budget north of 100m.

If they can pull this off it will be one of the coolest things ever produced by television, but there is a lot that can go wrong with this kind of thing. The show could fall flat, the game could be boring, the mythology could be too shallow to get into or too deep to penetrate, they could run out of money. It seems like a pretty big risk. I am excited to see where things go.

this is an amazing idea, but requires a lot of work put in on both fronts at all times. it could potentially gain a hugely loyal and obsessive fandom and with the potential scope of it all, the size of this fandom could very well be a force worth keeping happy

he series is set in the near future, where aliens known collectively as Votans have come to Earth seeking a new home after their star system was destroyed. However, upon reaching Earth they found that they were not welcome. The Votans waited in orbit for six years as prolonged negotiations with Earth governments for settlement on the planet ultimately proved fruitless. With supplies on their ships running low, eventually in desperation the Votans began a war with humans to force the issue and make Earth their new home. During the war, Votan ships shot down by human militaries accidentally released terraformer technology, which made haphazard and radical changes to the biosphere and even the geology of Earth, making the planet dangerous to both humans and the aliens. The earth was scorched, chasms opened in the ground, and the surface of the planet was covered with dust and debris. After decades of war, both sides had fought to the point of mutual exhaustion, and a ceasefire was declared. Few organized governments remained for either the humans or the aliens, and both sides factionalized as their members began looking out for themselves. In several areas, local human and Votan militias began to band together when they realized that they had to cooperate if they hoped to survive on this new, almost alien planet.

The series largely revolves around the character of Jeb Nolan. Jeb was only ten years old when the Votans arrived and he served in the military during the war. With the war now over, he returns to his hometown of St. Louis to find that it is no longer the city he left; it is little more than a refugee camp renamed "Defiance." Deciding that his services are needed, Jeb takes up a position as the Chief Lawkeeper in Defiance, so he can protect the town from dangerous clashes between humans and aliens, military scavengers and other dangerous visitors who occasionally enter the town

The game itself is supposed to take place in California rather than St Louis, isnt it? Or at least some western part of theU.S. They're only supposed to have some tie-ins between the two locations with a few of the characters I believe and some events.

I also know that with the MMO that they are putting it on all 3 major consoles (PC, PS3 and Xbox) This will be the second major MMO to come to PS3 besides DCUO, which I am all for since it's sci-fi style apocalyptia that is a genre I enjoy.

Oh you haven't heard that one before? I don't mean this in a mean-spirited way, sorry if it comes across as such, I just know that you're a very big Blizzard fan so I'm a bit surprised.

The video was very popular among Blizzard fans during the time Wrath of the Lich King was the live version of WoW and Cataclysm was in early beta testing. One of the video's producers, Jesse Cox, was very popular at the time for doing previews of Azeroth zones after their Cataclysm revamp in Beta. Personally, I thought his attempts at voice over narration in those previews were very corny though.

(loud audio warning)

Stanisław Lem wrote:I hadn't known there were so many idiots in the world until I started using the Internet.

I was talking from a European WoW player perspective, back then his videos were constantly talked about in my guild, nowadays not so much.

I didn't say he is no longer popular. For all I know he might be even more popular, and if you say he is I believe you, but I was just tallking about the time when I could verify that he was. "The less a man makes declarative statements, the less apt he is to look foolish in retrospect."

Stanisław Lem wrote:I hadn't known there were so many idiots in the world until I started using the Internet.